Wire stranding machine



May 30, 1933.

WIRE STRANDING MACHINE M. W. REED Filed Sept. 11

4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR HA COZ/IYWJPEZQ v ATTORNEYS y 30, 1933. M. w.REED 1,911,925

WIRE STRANDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 11, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I ENTOR R gATTORNEYS May 30, M. W. REED- WIRE STRANDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 11,1931 4=Sheets-Sheet 3 Illll llll INVENTOR gzcaz/wmfa Mrm ATTOR N EYS May30, 1933. M. w. REED v 1,911,925

WIRE STRANDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 11, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 i IZ s o I5 I I I 7a 75 i? M jvwei e Z07:

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Patented May 30, 1933 UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE MALCOLM W. REED, FWORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS WIRE STBANDING EAGHINE Application filedSeptember 11, 1981. Serial No. 562,360.

or the forming of a plurality of wire ropes o supporting members 0machine.

into a cable, or the like.

In the common types of stranding machines the wire is placed on spoolswhich in turn are carried in frames mounted on the rotating part of thestranding machine. Such spoolshave to be comparatively small and themachine has to be stopped, whenever a spool of wire is exhausted, orreplace ment. The wire drawing machines generally deliver wire in coils.The wire has to be spooled from such coils. I

- According to one feature of my present invention, the wire supplyingthe stranding machine is carried on a plurality of rotatable arranged torotate about fixed vertical axes and which may be in the form of reelsto receive coils as delivered by the wire drawing machines, or may be inthe form of spool carriers adapted to support lar e capacity spools.

ther advantages of the invention are referred to in detail hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan, broken away, of acomplete stranding Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same. Figure 3 isa section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an elevation of one of the reels with a steady ring appliedto it. Figure 5 shows the same steady ring in and vertical section.

Figure 6 shows an alternative steady ring in plan and in verticalsection.

Figure 7 is an elevation of a reel with a special plate for running offthe wire.

Figure 8 is an elevation of a reel preferred for running off wire fromthe bottom of the coil.

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 3, showing a combined reel and drumfor running off the wire.

Figure 10 is a view showing a large capacity spool arranged for runningofi the wire as described.

plan

Figure 11 is a view showing a modified form of drive for the reels orspools.

The wire in coils 11 is placed on vertical reels 12 arranged in fixedpositions on a floor 13. The wire is led from the top of each coilupwardly through a projecting eye-piece 14 on a slip ring 15 on top ofthe reel. The wires pass upwardly, as at 16, over sheaves 17 locatedsubstantially in line with the axes of the reels and carried on anoverhead framework 18. From the sheaves 17 the wires pass, as indicatedat 19, .over a number of freely rotating sheaves 20 carried on theforward end of the framework 18 and thence, as shown at 21, the wirespass to the mechanism of the conventional type for twisting the wirestogether in a strand. This mechanism may be of any usual or suitabledesign. That shown is what is commonly called a Stone stranding machine.For control of tension in the wires, tension deivces of common designmay be installed at or near sheaves 17 and 20.

The wires first pass under a set of sheaves 22 in connection with whichthere is an automatic stop 23 operated to stop the machine when a wirebreaks. Following this is a stationary head 24 in which the wires passthrough a circular series of holes, thence to a rotating die 25, througha rotary straightener 26 anda flier 27, also rotating about the strandaxis.

The strand is drawn over a drum 28 which is' driven at a speed bearing acertain relation to the speed of rotation of the flier so as todetermine the length of lay. The strand passes around the drums 28 and29, through a brake band 30 and is finally wound on a take-up reel 31,driven at varying speed as the size of the coil increases.

Any usual or suitable modification of this mechanism may be adapted tothe invention, such as the usual devices for preforming or straighteningeither the wires, the strand components or the finished product. Therotary straightener 26, for example, is a preformer. The preforming headmight be substituted for the stationary head 24.

The reels 12 are designed to be positively rotated or driven.

For this purpose shafts 32 extend downwardly, as shown best inFigure 3,and are rotated by means of worm-gears 33 driven from gears' 34 onlongitudinal shafts 35. The two shafts 35 are geared together at theirforward ends, one of them carrying a pinion 36 driven by a gear 37 on ashaft 38 carrying a pinion 39 driven by a gear 40 on a shaft 41 which isdriven by a gear and pinion 79, 80, the latter being on a shaft 82 whichis driven by a motor 83. The flier 27 is driven from the shaft 41through a chain drive 81, and the straightener 26 is driven from thegear 42 through the pinion 43 and belt 45.

The gearing described can be changed to different ratios so as to rotatethe reels 12 at different speeds compared with that of the flier 27.Thus, the rotation of the reels may be made to twist the wires leadingoff therefrom at 16 just sufficiently to offset the twist given by theflier and the stranding mechanism, or may be rotated to increase ordiminish the twist according to the particular result desired.

The reels of the different driving strands can be replaced by otherswhen it is desired to change the design or character thereof. When acoil is exhausted from any reel the machine is stopped and a new coilput on and very readily threaded through the necessary path tothestranding mechanism.. The upper framework 18 extends across thestructure, as in Figure 3, so as to prevent any accidental dropping ofthe end of a broken wire and to support the wire where it runs in a longlength between sheaves.

Above the platform are guards 46 with downward projections to keep thewires separated. For facilitating access to the wires and sheaves theseguardsare carried on shafts 47 which are pivoted and provided with arms48 connected by links 49 to lever arms 50 on shafts 51 which can berocked by means of operating levers 52.

Figures 4 to 6 illustrate the use of steadying rings. These may be asimple ring 53 with a conical outer face which can be dropped over thetop of the reel and fit within the upper end of the coil of wire so asto steady the wire at the bottom where it is being drawn off and isliable to be loosened. The ring 54, of Figure 6, is substantially thesame but has downward extensions 55 at intervals which enter the coilmorefreely.

Instead of the slip ring on top of the reel for'drawing oil the wire aplate ring may be used, resting on the top of the coil. Or such a platering 56 may be used, as in Figure 7, constituting a flange on a steadyring 57 similar to that shown in Figure 4 For drawing the wire from thetop of the coil the reels may be made practically cylindrical with aslight upward taper. For some wires, particularly very fine wires, ithas been found that they may be drawn off more evenlly from the bottomof a coil. For such wires could use a reel 58 (Figure 8) similar tothose shown in the other figures but with a different taper, and coulddraw the wire off from the bottom by way of asheave 59 carried on thelower end of an arm 60, supported from the top of the reel.

It is not essential to draw the wire directly from reels such as havebeen described. Figure 9 showsan alternative arrangement in which thewire is drawn off from a drum 61 driven in the manner of the reelspreviously referred to. The coil 11 is placed on a conventional reel 62adjacent the drum 61. The wire from the coil 11 is led to the drum 61and is wrapped around the drum to form an accumulation of convolutions63 from which the wire is drawn upwardly in the same manner it is fromthe reel previously described. Due to the rotation of the drum 61 in.the manner that the reels previously described are rotated, theaccumulation of the mnvolutions 63 will be continuously renewed as thewire is drawn from the drum, and when the coil 11 is completely gonefrom the reel 62 a new coil may be mounted on the reel 62 and its endjoined to the end of wire which has been wrapped on the drum 61 so as topmvide for continuous feeding of wire from the drum 61, since theaccumulation 63 will gen mit the drawing of wire from the drum w ile thefront end of the new coil is being joined to the last end of theprevious coil on the drum 61.

A certain accumulation of wire 63 is formed on the drum and the advanceend of the wire is taken off, as at-16, and follows the path previouslydescribed. The term drums here is used to describe any means for drawinthe wire from a freely rotatin reel.

In Figure 10, I have shown a m 'fied form of wire supply support. Inthis construction, the reel 12 is omitted and a large spool is mountedon the shaft 32. In this construction, the eye-piece. 14 and slip ring15 are omitted since the upper flange 15 of the spool serves to guidethe wire from the spool to the sheave 17.

In Figure 11, I have shown a modified form of gearing which may be usedto drive the reels 12 or spools 70. In this construction the shaft 32 isextended downward as in the construction previously described and isrotated by means of a bevel gear 72 driven by a bevel gear 73 carried bya variable speed re-.

ducer 74 of any desired standard construction. The speed reducer has agear 75 meshed with a gear 76 on the longitudinal drive shaft 35 of themachine. The standard variable speed reducer 74 is provided with a speedchange wheel 77 carried by a vertical shaft 78 which is adapted to berotated to vary the speed delivered by the reducer.

It will be understood that the above modified drive may be used with anyone or any number of the reels, as desired.

With the modified drive above described the driving speeds of the reelscan be readily changed so as to be rotated at difierent speeds relativeto each other as well as different speeds compared with the flier,thereby adapting the machine for the-manufacture of many different andspecial types of strands.

The term coil, as used throughout this specification and the claims, ismeant to include any accumulation of wire whether wrapped on a spool orother core member or coiled in a bundle without acore, and the term reelis meant to include any support for the accumulation of wire whether itbe in the form of a frame to receive unsupported or loose coils of wireor means for supporting spools or other wire carriers.

Various other modifications may be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing rality from the invention,

as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a wire stranding apparatus a plurality of reels arranged instationary positions on a fixed base and rotatable about their verticalaxes, said reels being adapted to carry coils of wire, means foroperating said stranding apparatus to draw the wire from said reels,means for positively rotating said reels, and means adapted to fitwithin the top of the coil on each of said reels to steady tlil; wire atthe point where it is being drawn 0 2. In a wire stranding apparatus aplurality of reels arranged in stationary positions on a fixed base andaxially rotatable, said reels being adapted to carry coils of wire,means for operating said stranding apparatus to draw the wire from saidreels, means for positively rotating said reels, and means adapted tofit within the top of the coil on each of said reels to steady the wireat the point where it is being drawn ofi.

3. In a wire stranding apparatus a pluof reels arranged in stationarypositions on a fixed base and rotatable about their vertical axes, saidreels being adapted to carry coils of wire, arms hung from the upper endof at least some of the reels and extending downwardly to adjacent thelower ends thereof, the wire being led off from the lower end of thecoils of wire and over said arms upwardly and to the stranding apparatusto draw off the wire from said reels, and means for positively rotatingsaid reels.

4. In a wire stranding apparatus a plurality of reels arranged instationary positions on a fixed base and axially rotatable, said reelsbeing adapted to carry coils of wire, arms hung from the upper end of atleast some of the reels and extending downwardly to adjacent the lowerends thereof,

their vertical axes, said reels being adapted to carry coils of wire,means for operating said stranding apparatus to draw the wire from saidreels while maintaining its coiled form and means for positivelyrotating said reels.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

MALCOLM W. REED.

